A storing apparatus and a storing method for storing digital information in the form of stored charges is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,934. The apparatus comprises a read/write head with a cantilever that carries an electrically conductive tip. Information is stored in form of trapped charges in an insulating layer. Therefore, an electric field is applied which serves to transport the charges into the insulating layer.
The charge sites are situated in a continuous insulating element and are separated from each other through the insulating property of the element. Hence the positions of the charges in the insulating element are not determined by the geometry of the insulating layer but by the position of the read/write head during the writing procedure.
Conductive elements are used as a possibility to provide tracks along which the read/write head is guided.